Is There An East Hampton Taxi-Cab Situation Festering?

Ok it is August in the Hamptons and I would not be writing this if it were February. That being said, what is with the huge van cabs hovering all over East Hampton Town or worse driving back roads like ambulances with dying patients. Sometimes the rude and reckless driving is very unpredictable like the pickup and drop-off areas at JFK!

Everyone is against drunk driving and calling a cab instead of driving drunk is a no-brainer, but are the country roads and local people prepared to deal with Manhattan type kamikaze cab drivers driving “aggressively” to get from here to there as quickly as possible in order to maximize money to be made during the prime hours?

It use to be visitors driving slow and lost in Volvo’s and Range Rovers or Porsches speeding by causing some chaos all over town in the summer season, but now I think these “Van Cabs” are enemy #1.

The Uber Ban controversy has seemed to open the floodgates for abusive Cab driving all over town as if they now have immunity from all traffic violations . I say this because it feels as if cab drivers are violating most traffic laws openly. I was inspired to write this because I watched (while riding my bike) an elderly couple driving on “Further Lane,” being tailgated recklessly by a Van Cab recently. It felt and was just so wrong. If the Board feels Montauk is out of control and needs some reining in perhaps they should also address the growingly chaotic “Van Cab” situation. Who knows, perhaps next we will have mini-bus cabs or Jitney size cabs! Should Route 27 in all the villages feel like 42nd street in front of Grand Central Terminal in all the hamlets? Right now it does.